Former SHAPE football star Alejandro Villaneuva, a senior at the U.S Military Academy, hauled in his fourth touchdown pass of the season Saturday in Army’s 27-13 loss to Temple.
Villanueva, a 6-10, 283-pound – and this is no mistake – wide receiver, has caught 16 passes for 253 yards in seven games this season, his first as a pass-catcher. Last year, Villanueva started every game at left tackle after playing on the defensive line his first two seasons at West Point.
According to the Army Sports Information Department, new Army coach Rich Ellerson moved Villaneuva, now called “Ali,” to wide-out to provide a large perimeter target for the Army offense.
Jump-balls may be in the offing for this year’s Army-Navy game.
Incidentally, Villaneuva’s not the only former Spartan on the Army roster. His fellow senior, Joe Puttmann, a defensive back, also has earned an Army football letter.
Former Hohenfels All-Europe striker Idrissa Soumaoro scored his fifth goal and registered his first assist of the season last week as the University of Dubuque (Iowa) downed Buena Vista (Iowa) 6-0 on Saturday and Central College (Iowa) 1-0 last Wednesday.
Soumaoro, Dubuque’s offensive player of the year in 2007 with eight goals and two assists, posted just three goals and four assists in nine games in an injury-shortened 2008 campaign. He scored in the 88th minute for the game’s only goal in last week’s victory over Central College. Dubuque, an NCAA Division III school, is 12-1-2 for the season and undefeated in Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play at 5-0.
Dubuque, known for its inclusion of former DODDS athletes in all sports, has three other former DODDS-Europe stars on its active roster – Anthony Marshall, Soumaoro’s teammate at Hohenfels; Pablo Martinez of SHAPE, and Ross Paxton of Patch.
UD boasts some DODDS-Europe firepower in tennis, too, where freshman and Heidelberg alum Nick Garcia reached the final eight of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Midwest Regional earlier this month before falling in straight sets in the quarterfinals.
Garcia is a three-time European singles champion and is part of a Dubuque tennis community which also includes Ramstein grad Jackie Ventrice, a junior who is 7-6 in singles this season.
